Testosterone-powered action fuels Bay's 'The Rock'<\/p>\n
By Parvathi Nayar Narayan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The assorted mass of concrete and rock in San
\nFrancisco Bay still exerts a strange, compelling pull on people's
\nimaginations. Once again Hollywood has cashed in on its enduring
\nappeal though the result isn't really just another Alcatraz
\nmovie.<\/p>\n
The Rock has nothing to do with grisly tales of cruelty and
\ninjustice, but rather with modern warriors -- and weapons.<\/p>\n
The versatile Ed Harris plays General Hummel. He is a rather
\ndangerous combination of idealism, bitterness and bravery; in the
\nopening frames of the movie it is revealed that his wife -- a
\nrestraining influence? -- is no more. Hummel, together with a
\nband of renegade marines, steals some of the newest, deadliest
\nand most virulent gas around. It is time, I suppose, for the
\nvillain of the piece to be culled from the stockpile of chemical
\nweaponry, seeing as all the others -- from big guns to nuclear
\nwarheads -- have had their day in the sun.<\/p>\n
The rebels hole up at Alcatraz along with the requisite
\nhostages, whose presence makes a frontal attack on them an
\nimpossibility. Apart from which there is The Threat -- the rebels
\nwill gas the Bay area unless the government meets their demands.
\nIt's only money that they want, for heaven's sake, and that too
\nfor a good cause -- as compensation to the families of the
\nsoldiers who've died in operations so covert that their existence
\nis denied.<\/p>\n
The pace doesn't allow you too much time to protest the
\nimplausibility of the plot. And anyway you are offered up Sean
\nConnery very quickly, whose screen presence just seems to get
\nmore potent with the years. He plays John Mason, the only man
\never to have escaped from Alcatraz. Like the deadly gas, the
\naforementioned soldiers who died in covert operations, Mason's
\nexistence is also a dark secret, and he's been illegally
\nincarcerated for the past 30 years. Did someone say
\n'paranoia'...?<\/p>\n
Mason is offered his freedom and a new hairstyle in exchange
\nfor using his knowledge of Alcatraz to smuggle onto the island a
\nlethal SEAL team and Dr. Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage). Cage moves
\nfrom chemical addict, the man with the plan to drink himself to
\ndeath in Leaving Las Vegas) to FBI chemical weapons expert in The
\nRock. He is rather amusing as the near nerd on whose
\nintrinsically honest self the FBI persona sits with some
\nawkwardness. He's more in his element when defusing chemical
\nbombs rather than toting a gun.<\/p>\n
But Dr. Goodspeed's personality acquires a whole new dimension
\nwhen handed a yellow -- the currently trendy color for one's
\nwheels -- Ferrari. The movie is set in San Francisco after all,
\nwith those marvelous roller-coaster roads which practically
\nscream \"Car Chase!\". Director Michael Bay, formerly a maker of
\nmusic videos, obliges with an all systems go, tires screaming,
\nnon-stop action sequences. The kind that would leave even MTV-
\nproof audiences, used to 50 images a second, gasping in its wake.<\/p>\n
And so on to Alcatraz itself. When I visited Alcatraz years
\nago, it consisted of nothing more eventful than headphones with
\nsound effects and an ex-inmate signing copies of his books on the
\nisland. Of course Connery's Alcatraz is a lot more exciting with
\nboilers, tunnels, abandoned tramcars and underground passages.
\nAnd plenty of opportunities for shoot-outs, chases, and more
\ngeneral mayhem.<\/p>\n
Connery seems to have little problem in bashing up the odd
\nbaddie, spouting philosophy and pithy punch lines. Frankly, one
\nenjoys watching him immensely -- so much so that it's easy to
\nallow him to be fit and virile and powerful, despite 30 years of
\nimprisonment.<\/p>\n
There is an array of familiar and interesting faces on the
\nside of both the goodies and the baddies. The extensive
\nsupporting cast includes names such as Michael Biehn, David Morse
\nand William Forsythe. The film could perhaps have been in the
\nrunning, if like the Emmys, the Oscars offered esoteric
\ncategories like 'best cast in a major motion film that is
\nprimarily and overwhelmingly male'.<\/p>\n
Despite the lack of female interest The Rock should set
\ntestosterone glands a-pumping due to its sheer machismo. It will
\nprobably be remembered beyond the Cage-Connery appeal though, as
\nthe last of the S and B (Simpson and Bruckheimer) offerings.<\/p>\n
Don Simpson was quite the life-in-the-fastest-lane, high-
\nliving Hollywood prototype. After teaming up with Bruckheimer in
\n1983, the first hit they produced was Flashdance. It is however
\nas the producers of high powered thrillers that the duo will be
\nremembered -- from the seminal Top Gun all the way to The Rock,
\nwith blockbusters like Beverly Hills Cop, Dangerous Minds and
\nCrimson Tide along the way.<\/p>\n
With Simpson's death early this year, it's left to Bruckheimer
\nto continue with their action flicks. A practically patented
\nformula of which The Rock is a good example -- if it's somewhat
\nlow on plausibility and innovation it certainly scores high on
\naction, actors with charisma, slick escapism and good old
\nfashioned entertainment value.<\/p>",
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